Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Marketing Speaker - Know MORE vs. Know DIFFERENT

"I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow."-- Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of US (1856 - 1924)

As I was preparing for a marketing seminar last week, it occurred to me that there are very few people who know MORE than you do.

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, my clients and fellow speakers sometimes say, "Wow - you know so much MORE about marketing than me." And I guess I better if it's my life's work, right?

But they know so much more than I do about how to run a $2 million consulting business, how to operate a $50 million franchise, how to apply paint protection film to the front end of a Maserati, and how to design a build a LEED Platinum-certified office building.

POINT: Sure, I might know more in a particular area, but then YOU know more in different areas than I do (a LOT more probably!!)

So, perhaps a way to cross-pollinate ideas, surround yourself with "smart" people, and learn from your peers is to seek out NOT people that know MORE than you do - but to seek out people that know DIFFERENT than you do.

When's the last time you spent some time with a college professor? I live next door to two of 'em.

When's the last time you spent some time with a storyteller, actor, or improv comedian? Not to hear stories or jokes, but to exchange ideas and think WITH them.

Do you know the Guinness Book record-holder for balloon sculptures? I do. He's a great guy.